Summary

Our Score:

Pros

Cons

Key Features

5in widescreen display

Maps for UK and Republic of Ireland

Speak & Go voice activation system

Bluetooth mobile phone connectivity

RDS-TMC traffic ready

Manufacturer: TomTom

Review Price: £149.99

It's amazing to think, considering how dangerous it is to fiddle with gadgets whilst driving, that few sat-navs offer truly capable voice control. Garmin has developed the most effective system so far, as seen in its nuvi 3790T. But TomTom was never going to let this lead remain for too long. So we have the TomTom Via 135, which launches the company's new Speak & Go system, alongside the Via 130, the main difference between the two being that the 135 offers a 5in screen whilst the 130 settles for 4.3in.

Unlike the Garmin voice implementation, TomTom's Speak & Go still requires a single finger press to get started, on the little microphone icon to the left of the screen. But after that, the vast majority of everyday tasks are accessible verbally. For example, you can enter an address this way, and TomTom has made this easier than other manufacturer's voice systems. You simply state the address as you would in natural language - house number, street, and city, all at once. You don't need to enter each individually. We found Speak & Go pretty effective with all the addresses we tried, and in fact quicker than entering addresses manually. You can also navigate to your home location or a Favourite. However, you can't enter a post code verbally, which is a major drawback.

The efficiency of entering a destination verbally is nice, but it's not essential, as there's a good chance you will be stationary when setting your initial destination. Where it comes into its own, however, is in those situations where you really should have your hands on the wheel. For example, you can ask to find the nearest petrol station, after which you are given a list to choose from verbally, by number, and you will be rerouted. For those times when you get too close to running out of fuel on a lengthy stretch of motorway, this can really make a perilous situation far more manageable. Having verbal control over the Avoid Roadblock functions will be extremely useful, too.

Similarly, you can search for a local restaurant or hospital, should
hunger or illness strike in a journey. You can zoom the map and mute the
sound, or control the volume. It's also possible to add a favourite
using the voice commands. TomTom has made its Map Share and speed camera
reporting functions safer to use, too, by making this verbally
accessible. However, this is an example of where you need to know a very
specific command ("mark map error" rather than anything involving "Map
Share"), as only this will call up the correct function. On TomTom
devices with LIVE services, of which the Via 135 isn't one, you can even
check traffic and weather by voice. But there is Bluetooth available,
so you can connect to your phone and operate it through the TomTom,
including placing calls and using the sat-nav as a hands-free device.

Alexander Brown

June 29, 2013, 7:45 am

too true about the confusing mixture. almost as unclear as an energy providers menu. ive seen a deal with unlimited map updates, but the more i think about it is a good deal. my parents go 700 can take the latest maps, but their missing out on so much, and the device struggles to process them on short streets as theres so much data now in the new maps (even after swapping the hdd for a much faster flash card...)

tony

August 25, 2013, 12:46 pm

I was told that the tomtom via 135 was ideal for connecting my mobile phone how everwhen making a call after stating name of person to call often rings wrong number to whichit needs a quick finger tap to cancel not good when driving

andrew

November 6, 2013, 6:45 pm

I have just bought one these sat navs...how do I enable text message recieving..so its speaks out loud to me?Cheers thanks.

ankripa

February 5, 2014, 6:47 am

i bought TOMTOM but there is no map of Nepal..could you please advice how to download road map of Nepal.

knork

February 16, 2014, 12:41 pm

I bought this Sat nav, but the battery life is only an 1hr after fully charge.

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